Long-horizon business incubation and consulting

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World Enterprise

WE build worlds.

Long-horizon business incubation and consulting, paced to the years a company really takes.

Start a readiness review See how long it really takes

Move fast every week. Build for the decade. WE steers a dedicated team that builds your company with you, from first proof through the years when most new businesses close, for as long as the work is useful.

A spiral galaxy of blue stars. At its core a world of hexagonal tiles is still assembling, one tile glowing amber, while a trail of small hexagonal cells streams in to join it.

Choose where to start

The long horizon

WE Dream. WE Build. WE Grow.

Three stages, paced to the clock, with things your company keeps at every step.

A small amber capsule climbs from a hexagonal launch pad labeled Dream, through a hexagonal gate labeled Build, toward a world of hexagonal tiles labeled Grow, with the five phases marked along its dotted trail.
  1. Dream Ignite
  2. Build Build and Launch
  3. Grow Grow and Orbit
  4. Ignite Months 0 to 6
  5. Build Months 6 to 18
  6. Launch Months 18 to 36
  7. Grow Years 3 to 5
  8. Orbit Year 5 onward

  1. Dream

    Ignite: Months 0 to 6

    Find the first proof and write the plan.

    Keeps

    • Readiness scorecard and plan
    • Ownership records
    • Brand

  2. Build

    Build: Months 6 to 18 · Launch: Months 18 to 36

    Build the first release, win the first customers and launch.

    Keeps

    • Security baseline and first release
    • Customer evidence index
    • Financial model

  3. Grow

    Grow: Years 3 to 5 · Orbit: Year 5 onward

    Become an established company.

    Keeps

    • Operating rhythm
    • Organized records and materials

Where the phases sit on the business clock

  1. Month 1 Ignite First proof and the written plan
  2. Month 7 First payroll, on average 1 More than two quarters after applying
  3. Year 1 77.9% still operating 2
  4. Year 1.5 Launch Repeatable sales and product-market fit
  5. Year 3 56.3% still operating 2
  6. Year 3.5 Established 3 Forty-two months of paying wages
  7. Year 5 51.4% still operating 2
  8. Year 5.5 Orbit Running steady; WE steps down by notice
  9. Year 10 34.7% still operating 2
  1. U.S. Census Bureau, Business Formation Statistics
  2. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Business Employment Dynamics, Table 7 (March 2025 release)
  3. Global Entrepreneurship Monitor, United States 2019/2020 Report (Babson College)

These figures describe all new U.S. businesses, not WE's results. Survival figures are for the latest opening-year group with data for that year. Windows are typical, and your plan sets its own pace.

See the program

Why it takes time

A company takes years. WE is set up for the years.

About 1 in 5 new businesses close in their first year. About half are gone by year five. About a third are still operating at year ten.

Most help for founders is short. WE works on the clock businesses actually follow, with checkpoints at the points where the data shows most companies close.

See how long it really takes

Share of new U.S. businesses still operating, year by year
Show the figures as a table
Share of new U.S. businesses still operating, year by year
Years since opening All private industries, opened in the year to March 2015
0 100%
1 79.6%
2 69.1%
3 61.4%
4 55.4%
5 50.2%
6 46.4%
7 43.6%
8 40.3%
9 37.4%
10 34.7%

Establishments with at least one employee. A closure is not always a failure: it includes sales and mergers.

Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Business Employment Dynamics, Table 7 (March 2025 release)

77.9% 1

of new U.S. businesses were still operating after one year (opened in the year to March 2024)

51.4% 1

were still operating after five years (opened in the year to March 2020)

34.7% 1

were still operating after ten years (opened in the year to March 2015)

  1. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Business Employment Dynamics, Table 7 (March 2025 release)

These figures describe all new U.S. businesses, not WE's results.

The long game

Move fast every week. Build for the decade.

Startups win by shipping every week. Companies survive by lasting years. WE does both: a weekly rhythm that never slips, on a timeline built for the long run.

Every week

Fast, and written down.

  1. 1 Plan The week’s cycle is set in writing.
  2. 2 Build A dedicated team ships the work.
  3. 3 Report A written status, every week.
  4. 4 Decide You say yes or no to the next cycle.

Every year

Patient, because the odds turn slowly.

Most new businesses close in the first five years. After that, each year survived makes the next more likely. WE paces the work to that curve.

  1. Month 1 First written status WE reports in writing from the first week.
  2. Month 7 First payroll 1 Typically 2.29 quarters after a business applies, for the 2021 applications.
  3. Year 1 77.9% still operating 2 One year after opening.
  4. Year 3.5 Counted as established 3 A business is called established at 42 months.
  5. Year 5 51.4% still operating 2 Five years after opening.
  6. Year 10 34.7% still operating 2 Ten years after opening.

Where milestones typically fall, and how many new businesses are still operating at years one, five and ten. Each survival figure comes from a different opening-year group; the sources name them.

  1. U.S. Census Bureau, Business Formation Statistics , 2021 and 2005 applications
  2. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Business Employment Dynamics, Table 7 , Opened in the year to March 2024
  3. Global Entrepreneurship Monitor, U.S. report 2025/2026 (Babson College) , Definition
See how long it really takes See how WE works

What WE does

A team inside your company, steered by WE.

You set where the company goes. WE answers for how the team gets there.

WE is a business incubation and consulting firm. WE puts a dedicated, fully remote team on your company: product, engineering, brand, customers, operations and records. WE recruits the team, steers it with a written method and reviews the work with you every week, month and quarter.

A remote workspace at golden hour: an empty chair at a desk beside a window with warm amber light.

See how WE works

Your company

  • Delivery lead Steering, for WE
  • Product design
  • Engineering
  • Quality and security
  • Brand
  • Customers and growth
  • Operations
  • Records
The roles a team can include Your company at the center, the team's roles around it and WE's steering on the outer ring. Illustrative: every team is planned with its founder.

Paid as the work is done.

WE is paid in cash, monthly, for the team's work. The agreement sets every term before you sign, and you review it with your own counsel. WE is paid for work already done, never in advance of it.

See how WE is paid

  1. Month 1 of work then paid
  2. Month 2 of work then paid
  3. Month 3 of work then paid
  4. Month 4 of work then paid
  5. Month 5 of work then paid
  6. Month 6 of work then paid

The Universal Business Framework

One map, from a Star to a Galaxy.

WE plans every company with the Universal Business Framework: ten parts, from a Star, a small company or project, to a Galaxy, an entire industry.

The framework gives the founder, the team and WE one vocabulary for where the company stands and what it is becoming: a Star on its Track, a Super Star gathering moons, a Sun at the center of its own system.

Explore the Universal Business Framework

A sun of blue hexagonal tiles with ten smaller worlds on nested orbit rings around it, one for each part of the Universal Business Framework, one tile on the sun in amber.
  1. Galaxy An entire industry
  2. Black Hole A dominant corporation at the center of an industry
  3. Super Nova An event that reshapes an industry: a merger, a new rule, a breakthrough
  4. Solar System A holding company and the companies around it
  5. Sun The headquarters, or the largest public company in a system
  6. Super Star A flagship company that could become a sun
  7. Star A small company or project with S.M.A.R.T. goals
  8. Moon A side project, subsidiary or department in orbit
  9. Comet An unstable project that needs better planning
  10. Asteroid An unstable project to steer around

Who WE works with

Built around the people who build companies.

Founders whose experience predicts success, and capable founders who need more capacity than they can yet hire.

Find your situation

A faceted globe rising at sunrise over a deep blue horizon with a small amber sun.

The wider ecosystem

Join the programs that fit. WE stays for the long run.

WE does not compete with the programs around you. Founder programs, coworking spaces, investor communities and public funding each do something WE does not, and most founders do best using several. Join the ones that fit. WE works alongside, for as long as the work is useful.

  • Founder programs

    Structured, time-boxed programs with a peer group and a deadline.

  • Coworking spaces

    A desk, a room and people who are building too.

  • Investor communities

    Angel groups and investor relations events where you meet the people who fund companies.

  • University and lab programs

    Research, labs and technology transfer for science-based companies.

  • Local small business support

    Advisers, training and regional networks close to home.

  • Public funding

    Federal research awards such as SBIR and STTR.

Independent programs that WE encourages founders to consider. No affiliation or endorsement is implied.

Browse every program to join Apply to SBIR and STTR

Public funding

Apply to SBIR and STTR.

The Small Business Innovation Research and Small Business Technology Transfer programs fund small businesses to do research and development. If your company is building something technical, apply, and keep applying.

WE helps founders prepare alongside. WE is not an agency and cannot promise an award.

See how SBIR and STTR work

  1. 1 Find The agency topics that match what you build.
  2. 2 Prepare The registrations, the plan and the proposal.
  3. 3 Apply Submit, learn from the review and go again.

See the data behind the long game.

Public statistics from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the Census Bureau, the SBA and the Federal Reserve, charted with every source linked.

94.4% 1

of establishments still open after eight years survived their ninth, against 79.6% in their first

48% 2

of firms aged 0 to 5 years were fully approved for financing, against 63% of firms aged 21 or more

70% 3

of venture-backed startups that shut down cited running out of capital

  1. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Business Employment Dynamics, Table 7 , Opened in the year to March 2013
  2. Federal Reserve Banks, Small Business Credit Survey (2026 report on employer firms) , Applicants in the prior 12 months
  3. CB Insights (2026), venture-backed startups that shut down; more than one reason allowed , Shutdowns since 2023

Explore the data

Latest insights

Where is your company on the clock?

Start a readiness review. WE arranges a conversation, then sends a one-page read of where your company sits on the business timeline and what the next phase needs.

WE makes no promise of funding.

Start a readiness review Get the timeline brief